Little Inferno review

As a gamer I often find myself given a choice to make a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ thing happen within a game. Save the cat in the tree, good. Kick the old man in the head, bad. Little Inferno however gives you no need to concern yourself with the knock on effect that a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ choice will make. This is due to Little Inferno’s one and only rule. Burn everything.

Playing with Fire is no joke in real life but Little Inferno gives us a safe and fun way to play with this dangerous element. Developed by ‘Tomorrow Cooperation’ the setting is rather simple. You are an unnamed and un-faced person in a world that is dark, cold and very much sad. Having snowed more and more each year the games world features the ‘Little Inferno Fireplace Entreatment System’ that allows it’s users to stay warm. This is where the gamer will find them spending most if not all of there time. That said it’s one of the nicest looking games I’ve played in some time. With a unique art style, that is somewhat chirpy as well, and some amazing lighting effects. Little Inferno really does make you smile in terms of visuals.

Gameplay is much simpler. Buy items, wait for them to turn up, burn said items, collect money and repeat. As you work your way through the list of items available to you more will open up and can be unlocked by carrying out ‘combos’. Combos just see you burning a set few items together at the same time and lead to some stunning results. Take note however that though the game starts you off with some rather ‘nice’ items it quickly grows out of hand as your be burning all sorts by the end. Want to burn a ‘manny’ body spray together with some spider eggs? Do it. How about a cute kitty that once set alight takes it apron off it’s self to ‘let-a’rip’ of it’s bowels and make a rather unpleasant mess? You can do that too. Scary toy bear? Yup it’s here.

You might be asking yourself ‘Why does the game get so dark so fast?’ well If I explained that in full the game would be ruined. Believe it or not but Little Inferno has a great story to it and though short and not featuring much back story, it really draws you in. You get letters from a few characters throughout the game and start to interact more with them as this happens. Anything else then that I really can’t say due to the risk of giving away what I found to be a brilliant narrative to a otherwise simple entreating game.

Little Inferno is short, simple and sweet but also offers you a lot of creative freedom and many different ways to enjoy yourself. Though the story might have only taken me about three hours to get through, this also included a lot of time spent just burning random items. Little Inferno gives you not just a story to work through but an open sandbox as well. I still find myself loading it up just to let off some stream by burning a few dolls together and watching them scream. That’s right, every item is also alive. Coffee cup? Screams in pain. It’s brilliant!

Little Inferno is a fanatic game that is worth every minute you put into it. Though the dark humour might be to much for some I would strongly suggest that everything gives this game a go. Even more so if your like me and find these sorts of dark, sick jokes that little bit more funny. Honestly you haven’t lived until you have set a fireplace full of coffee cups on fire and watched them scream in pain. It’s freaky, scary but down right genius and worth every minute of your time.

Besides, who didn’t want to play with fire as a kid?

To find out more about Little Inferno, check out the developers site here.